27/10/01 Parscelona 0 PSJ 0
October 27th 2001
Townhill St Leonards, Dunfermline
(thanks to roving
reporter Johnnie MacDougall)
Following a
relocation from Townhill at the last minute, Parscelona recorded another famous first with this match at St Leonards,
notching up their first ever 0-0 draw in over three years of football (while
visitors PSJ walked away with their first ever clean sheet).
Pars took the slightly different approach of
playing short-sighted supremo Colin McKean in defence (possibly the explanation
for the lack of goals at both ends) and it was a baptism of fire as Pars were
put under pressure from the off.
Within the first quarter of an hour, PSJ had
had numerous half chances to take the lead – Fraser Clark managed a last ditch
tackle; Keith Mackie cut out a cross and pulled off a good stop with his feet;
PSJ then conspired to miss the target with both an overhead kick and with a
very close call from a dangerous cutback.
In the 24th minute, Parscelona had
their only clear-cut chance. Latching onto a poor attempted pass back, Alan
Maxwell saw his first effort blocked by the Saints’ keeper before having his
second effort cleared off the line by PSJ’s Pars-voted man of the match Captain
Kev.
Within a minute PSJ had hit the bar at the
other end and given Pars a let-off when the rebound was blasted over. Twice
more before the half was out Keith Mackie had to pull off two good saves to
ensure that his second-half replacement Ross Bremner still had a clean sheet to
defend.
Ross didn’t have long to adjust before he too
was under pressure – following his first touch of the ball from a weak PSJ
shot, he had to be a bit more alert to turn a better effort round the post
(though Ross McGregor was waiting on the line to clear if necessary).
With only five minutes remaining both teams
were desperate to grab the all important goal. Davie Sanders attempted to win a
penalty with a dive so bad his own team-mates turned away in disgust, before
PSJ’s (and Erin Hibs’) Steve Carr passed up the opportunity to take the points
by sending a good chance sailing over the bar.
Callum Norris did well to ride a couple of tackles with only a minute left but put in a weak shot. The final action of the match was left to Ross Bremner to once more hold PSJ at bay.
Pars squad: R. Bremner, K. Mackie, J. Wilson, F. Clark, M. Falconer, C. McKean, D. Sanders, C. Norris, G. Davidson, A. McLeod, A. Maxwell, Alex Mercer, Alasdair Mercer, E. Campbell, N. Holland, R. McGregor, C. Wilson